Brett Favre sparks firestorm with comment about Aaron Rodgers

Despite eight straight playoff appearances, Packers fans likely expected to have won more than one Super Bowl during this era. However, Green Bay fans aren’t the only ones who feel this way: Arguably the most famous Packer of them all also believes the team has underachieved.

Count Brett Favre as one of the people who is surprised that Aaron Rodgers and the Packers have lifted the Vince Lombardi Trophy just once since he left town. Here was Favre while speaking at a recent banquet, per Rob Demovsky of ESPN:

“Obviously, Aaron has carried the team for a long time; that’s not going to change. That in itself is not enough — at least it hasn’t been, and it’s been pretty good. As good as he is, I would’ve thought they would’ve won more than one by now.

“But I don’t know if he can do anything else other than what he’s done up to this point. It always seems like one piece of the puzzle is missing.”

The quote “I would’ve thought they would’ve won more than one by now” raised a lot of eyebrows.

Many thought it was a subtle shot at Rodgers, who famously took Favre’s job as the Packers’ starting quarterback. But in the next sentence Favre said Rodgers probably couldn’t do more than what he’s already done.

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In nine years as the Packers’ starting quarterback, Rodgers has won a Super Bowl and made it to two other NFC championship games. In Favre’s 16 years in Green Bay, the Packers won a Super Bowl, lost a Super Bowl and made it to two other NFC championship games. The two have also won five MVP awards between them (three for Favre, two for Rodgers).

“You don’t know what that [missing piece] is until you get it, like a Reggie White,” Favre continued. “You go, ‘Oh, that’s what we needed.’ It remains to be seen what that is, whether it’s a draft pick, a free agent, letting someone go, a coaching change — I don’t know.”

Now, that last line about a coaching change possibly being what could put the Packers over the hump is definitely a shot at coach Mike McCarthy. While the media played up the Favre-Rodgers feud, it was really a Favre-McCarthy feud that led to the acrimony between Favre and the Packers, and it lasted until he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016.

Favre said that when he told the coach he wanted to come back for the 2008 season after leading the Packers to the NFC championship game, McCarthy responded, “Oh, God, Brett. You’re putting us in a tight spot. Brett, playing here is not an option.”

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That set off a chain of events in which Favre demanded a trade and ended up with the Jets. He then joined the Packers’ divisional rival, the Minnesota Vikings, just so he could exact revenge on McCarthy and company twice a year.

Favre also weighed in on Rodgers’ recent comment that he would like to play until he was 40 years old just like Tom Brady.

“Why stop at 40?” Favre asked. “He moves around as well as anyone in the game right now. That’s big. The less you’re hit — Tom Brady’s a different player, but they protect him well enough. He’s not going to scramble for much, but I see no decline in Tom other than he’s getting older, but he doesn’t look like that.

“And I think Aaron — what is Aaron, 33? I would think that barring any injury — and he knows how to protect himself — six or seven years from now is a long time to think that far down the road, but there’s no reason to think he couldn’t play and play at a high level until — I’m not going to say 43, 44, it’s up to the individual — and I don’t see any decline in his game unless he doesn’t want to play anymore.”

Favre is one of just three quarterbacks in NFL history who have started more than 12 games in a season after turning 40. Brady will look to become the fourth this season, and Favre believes that Rodgers could join the club one day.

But the club Rodgers is interested in joining for the time being is the two-time Super Bowl champions club, one of the few NFL clubs that Favre is left out of.